


He will make her see him

by Mesaana



Category: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: F/M, Jealousy, Maven POV, Maven and Mare fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22599094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mesaana/pseuds/Mesaana
Summary: "Then something unexpected happened. It was something about the way she looked at him. No one had ever seen him the way as she did. He had never really meant to kiss her. But then there was that something about the way she looked at him. The way she looked to him for strength and sometimes borrowed him some of hers. Never had anyone looked to him to save them. Maybe Thomas had, but he couldn’t save Thomas. "I'm currently rereading the series and will try to write one oneshot for every book. For Red Queen I have chosen to write about the events from Maven's point of view with an added scene between him and Mare. It will explore his conflicted feelings for Mare and why he chose to act as he did toward the end of the book. Takes place the night before the failed coup.
Relationships: Mare Barrow/Maven Calore, Mare Barrow/Tiberias "Cal" Calore VII
Comments: 3
Kudos: 54





	He will make her see him

His mother's orders had been simple. Gain her trust.

His mother could break people, but he was the one who could bend them. And Elara had showed him how to do it. She showed him the memories she had stolen from Mare; her feelings of being an inadequate daughter, the resentment she felt towards the younger, perfect sister and despite it all, her never ending love for her entire family.

He told himself that this was things he could use to make her trust him. So, he told her about living in Cal’s shadow, about his father that only had eyes for his oldest son. He had thought he was playing a role, someone she could relate to, but before he knew he had told her more than he had ever told anyone else.

It wasn’t supposed to mean anything though, just means to an end.

Then something unexpected happened. It was something about the way she looked at him. No one had ever seen him the way as she did. He had never really meant to kiss her.

But then there was that something about the way she looked at him.

The way she looked to him for strength and sometimes borrowed him some of hers. Never had anyone looked to him to save them. Maybe Thomas had, but he couldn’t save Thomas. He found himself wanting to be worthy of her confidence in him. On the ship to Archeon when he told her about the bloodbase and she thought it was all over, drowning in the weight of her impending death, he hadn’t been able to resist the urge to pull her tight to him and push his lips to hers, to keep her from drowning.

He could see the way Cal looked at her too. What fool couldn’t? Cal just had to try to take this from him as well. Of course, Cal didn’t do it intentionally, he was way to _good_ for that, he just couldn’t help himself.

Maven stands outside of Mare’s door in the palace, knocking carefully. He hears steps on the other size and quickly smooths down the front of his shirt before she opens.  
  
When she opens the door a look of surprise passes over her face as she recognizes him. Who had she been expecting?

“Maven?”

She peeks out in the corridor and quickly glances both ways, checking to see if he has come alone. She has put on a couple of comfortable pants and loose shirt, not really fit to wear in public for a silver.

“Is there any… news?” She asks hesitantly.

Maven shakes his head.

“I want to show you something.” He says with a mischievous smile and offer her his hand.

She smiles, surprised, and put her hand is his.

He leads them through seemingly never-ending dark corridors that he knows like the back of his hand. She follows on sure and quiet feet.

“Where are we going?” Mare asks in a hushed tone.

“I promise you’ll like it.”

“I hate surprises…” She grumbles. But she doesn’t let go of his hand.

Eventually they reach a pair of glass doors. When he opens one of them the cool night air rushes in to meet them and then they are outside. Mare stops and draw in a deep breath of the fresh air. Before them is a narrow gravel path surrounded by trees, bushes and flowers in all kinds of sizes and colors.

“What is this place? Why haven’t I seen it before?” Mare marvels as they slowly make their way down the path. He laughs.

“You could live here for years and still find some corridor or door you haven’t seen before. This is a part of the royal gardens but this entrance is mostly used by servants and maintence. Not exactly grand enough for a garden party.”

They walk in silence for a while, hand in hand.

“It’s so… quiet. No electricity.”

He swiftly touches his own flame maker self-consciously.

“Do you miss it?”

She takes a second to answer but then shakes her head.

“No. In the palace it’s everywhere. All the time. It’s like a constant buzzing. But out here there’s barely anything.”

Her eyes fall on a particularly large tree next to the path.

“I bet you can see the whole garden from up there.”

He shrugs. “I guess, what…”

But she has already let go of his hand and is halfway to the tree. He hurries after.

“Mare?”

Instead of answering she examine the tree with her hands. Once she finds an appropriate branch to grab on to she lifts herself up at the same time as her feet look for and find support along the trunk. She makes it looks easy and before he knows it she has mostly disappeared along the leaves. He hesitates for a moment. Then he hears her voice.

“Well, come on then prince.” She teases from somewhere higher up.

He smiles and approaches the tree. He’s not a bad climber, it’s part of their training, he just hasn’t climbed a tree before. It’s takes him a minute to find where to put his feet and hands before he can pull himself up. Once his eyes have adjusted to the relative darkness among the branches, he spots her. She is straddling a large branch a little bit higher up, her back comfortably resting against the thick trunk of the tree. There must be an opening among the leaves because moonlight is shining on her face and she is looking out on the view, thoughtful expression on her face. Shortly she notices him looking at her and smile down to him. She reaches out and offers him a hand.

He accepts and manages to get up on the same branch facing her.

“The view up here is beautiful.”

“I know” he answers with a playful smile, his eyes never leaving her face.

She blushes a shade of pink that is visible despite the dim light. It never stops to fascinate him. He wants to reach out and touch her.

“Thank you for this. Really. I can almost pretend I’m back in the Stilts. When we were younger me and my older brother used to go to this grove of trees and see who could climb the highest one.”

She smiles a terribly sad smile, no doubt thinking about the brother she lost.

“I bet you climbed highest of all.”

She laughs.

“I did.”

They fall quiet again.

Looking at her looking at the view, he thinks she is kind of like a force of nature. Her eyes could be as stinging and cold as a winter blizzard. He had experienced it himself when she first got here. But they could also be as warm and comforting as the sun's first touch against your cheek in spring. Like they are now.

“This will all be over soon you know, one way or another.” Mare says, gesturing back to the palace.

It certainly will be. A new dawn is coming. Just not the one she thinks.

“Maybe _we_ don’t need to be,” He propose carefully. He could find a way. Soon he would be the one making the rules.

“Let’s worry about surviving first, shall we?”

“That’s pretty cold you know, shooting me down on what could be my last night alive.” He teases.

“You know that’s not what I meant! And don’t you dare die on me.” She says with a grimace and jabs at his shoulder.

He lets go of the branch and leans back unsteadily as if she made him loose his balance with her push, letting out a yelp of surprise.

“Maven!” She quickly reaches for him, taking a hold of both of his shoulders and pulling him in. He holds on to one of her legs for support, closer to her now. Just inches away from her face. She lets out a breath. He smiles innocently.

“Your balance can’t be that bad.” She murmurs.

“It’s not.”

They close the distance at the same time. Soft lips brushing against each other gently, tentative at first. Then more intently.

It doesn’t feel like pretend. It feels real. And she chose him. Maven.

Much too soon it’s time to go back to get some resemblance of sleep before the big day. He escorts her back to her room, says goodbye as he reluctantly lets go of her hand and then continue to his own chambers. As he walks, he keeps telling himself that he will find a way. Mare will be his Queen. They can change the world together if that’s what she truly wants.

As soon as he walks into his room he knows he isn’t alone. It doesn’t even hurt when Elara enters his mind. She’s been going in and out of his head as long as he can remember, as if she just decided to leave the door open so she could let herself in the next time she felt like it. The picture of Mare’s face in the moonlight high up in a tree floats in his mind. He shrugs involuntary, as if he could simply shake of his mothers prying eyes in his mind.

“Maven…” Elara scolds softly. Like you may do with a small child that accidently stumble and hurts himself, not taking proper care to step more carefully.

Not only does she see his memories, but his thoughts and feelings as well. And this is not the plan.

She stands by the window. Still not looking at him. She doesn’t have to look at him to see his heart.

“Do you need a reminder of why we do this? Of everything we have sacrificed?”

“I don’t. And I have not changed my mind. I will be king.” He grumbles. He walks over to his wardrobe, beginning to unlace his shoes.

Without warning images enters his mind, making him blind to his actual surroundings. He quickly realizes this is not his memories. Elara is showing him one of her own memories. He sees a grainy black and grey screen. It must be from the security cameras his mother has all over castle, carefully supervised by his mother’s sentinels. He doesn’t recognize the room, so many of them looks much to same. But there’s no mistaking the two figures slowly twirling around the floor together. Cal and Mare. His hand on her waist, her on his shoulder. Swaying to music only they can hear. Cal dips Mare down but quickly pulls her in again, much to close. He can see their lips move but since the cameras don’t record sound he can’t tell what they are saying. As Cal’s hand move to Mare’s chin a cold dread begins to seep into his gut. Mare take a few hesitant steps back, away from Cal. But her eyes never leave his. Then Cal pulls her in like it’s easiest thing in the world. And she eagerly lets him. Why shouldn’t she? He’s the heir to the throne of Norta after all. He can do anything he wants. He always does.

There's a time stamp in the corner of the screen. This happened long before they came up with the plan to use Cal's emotions for Mare in the coup. Before Mare told him she felt nothing for Cal.

“Enough.” He says in a cold voice but with a searing body temperature that quickly heats up the room around him. The memory disappears and reality comes back into focus.

“I’ll play my part tomorrow, just as I said I will. Nothing’s changed.”

Elara nods and slowly walk by him, letting her hand rest briefly on his shoulder as she passes and walks out the door. When she is gone, he allows himself one savage kick to the doorframe of the wardrobe. It splinters.

Then he takes a deep breath, the temperature in the room go down to normal and his skin is cool to the touch once again.

He will make her see him.

**Author's Note:**

> Rereading Red Queen, even knowing the way it ended, I kind of fell in love with Maven all over again, at least the person he pretended to be. I really don't think it was all pretend from him since spends the next three books obsessing over Mare. So this is kind of how I like to imagine he feels and thinks about it all. That he actually fell in love with Mare for real but that it combined with his jealousy towards Cal really brought forth his dark side towards the end. And then it all pretty much went to hell. Please let me know what you think!


End file.
